Memorial; The late emeritus professor Kojima (1912-1989)

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The Accounting Historians Journal Vol. 16, No. 2 December 1989
MEMORIAL THE LATE EMERITUS PROFESSOR KOJIMA (1912-1989)
by
Yoshihiro Hirabayashi Osaka City University
Osamu Kojima, Emeritus Professor of Kwansei Gakuin University (Kobe, Japan), died of myocardial infarction on February 21, 1989, at the age of 76, at Osaka University Hospi-tal. Last June he suffered a heart attack and he appeared to have recovered from it. But he passed away after another attack. May he rest in peace.
In keeping with Professor Kojima's desire to have an ac-counting history course offered in many Japanese universities, he founded the Accounting History Association (AHA). He was the first president of the AHA and set the direction for the association to follow.
Professor Kojima dreamed of participating in the Sixth World Congress of Accounting Historians in Kyoto in 1992. To our regret, he died before his dream could come true. His colleagues will attempt to carry out his plans.
One of Professor Kojima's major contributions was to examine accounting history in Europe by studying original materials and documents. His methodology was unique given the circumstances most researchers based their work on copies of materials available in Japan.
Most historical studies of accounting were based on investi-gation of bookkeeping in Italy, especially Luca Pacioli's Theory of Bookkeeping. Professor Kojima, however, studied the influ-ence of Italian bookkeeping in other countries, including Eng-land and Scotland, as a bridge to the history of modern ac-counting.
In addition, Professor Kojima emphasized the socio-economical background in his study of accounting history. For example, he provided evidence to support the theory that the emergence of a bookkeeping procedure depends on socio-economic conditions of the society. From his reading of secon-